I have a few Buffalo Nickels whose dates are completely worn smooth. I read somewhere on another forum that applying vinegar to the area would reveal the dates, but I tried this and it didn't work. Are there any household materials that are known to work?
Muriatic acid will probably do the trick. It's basically the same thing as the most popular commercial product, used for that purpose, known as "Nic-A-Date".
I found a Buff. in the same condition once in my till at work. However, the mound on the back was DEF. the 1913 reverse, so I lucked out in that dept. Too bad I wasn't able to make out the mint mark. My guess is that it was prob. Philly.
Good to know, I had no idea that Muratic Acid would work... Just to add to what Jody said you can usually find Muratic acid at most hardware stores, it is a common acid for cleaning brick and concrete ( I work at a hardware store and I see this stuff daily we keep it in the paint stripper section but your local store may have it elsewhere...) It is highly toxic and will cause serious burns to your skin so use extreme caution and always have a good supply of cold water nearby when you are using it Also Baking Soda works good as a neutralizer, but read the label carefully and follow the manufactures warnings and recomendations. As I said this stuff is scary toxic (it will burn through clothes, sometimes in a matter of seconds so you may want to have grubbie clothes that you don't care about on while using) Anyway, best of luck to you. Good Day, Aaron
I would strongly recommend that you NOT use muriatic acid unless you really know what you are doing. There are other differences. My LONG ago recollections are that Nick-a-date has been thickened so it will not run or splash, stabilized so it does not fume, probably (do not know for sure) a much weaker solution, and probably the most important, has a convenient dispenser for small applications. Think seriously before using full strength acid. It can and has killed people.
Some advice worth following I think... Plus ... Check out ebay... nic-a-date is cheap, get it for less than $10.00 with shipping included!!
I will agree that Muriatic acid is some pretty strong stuff, when I owned my radiator shop, I used MA daily in conjunction with a acetylene torch heating up the different parts of the radiator to be cleaned then resoldered, when the "work area" was heated up with the torch I would squirt full strenght MA onto the area needless to say it would smoke more than usual and at times it got breathed in and you can only inhale so far then the lungs aren't able expand anymore (it's like your inhaling and somebody covers your mouth and pinches your nose) it doesn't matter how long you hold your breath the smoke comes out as thick as it went in, I know, I tried it just to see. I've had it on my hands and arms, in open cuts on both (it does infect the cuts) I've had it slashed in My eyes and even had it splashed in my mouth and I haven't died. I guess if one was to drink it staight down it could kill, that's the only way I haven't ingested it. Muriatic acid is used on the farms for the livestock for different reasons. Muriatic can also be purchased at Veterinarian supply. John
I stand completely behind what I posted. Will it kill everyone it contacts? Not really. The IDLH (immediately dangerous to live and health) limit is 30 ppm for chlorine and 100 ppm for MA. For chlorine, that is about 1/2 ounce in a fair size room. Those are not nice limits! I repeat, IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING - DO NOT USE IT. All of that is discounting the injuries it can cause. With a relatively safe alternative available, why chance it? Just guessing, vinegar will probably work, although not very rapidly. Drain cleaners with phosphoric acid I am reasonably sure will work. There are some practical solutions if you want not to use nik-a-date. FYI: I would be willing to bet if OSHA saw you doing as you describe with MA, you would be somewhere between broke and in jail.
I can speak only of the Muriatic Acid that I used to purchase from the drug store in S. E. OK. it helped to prepare the surfaces to be worked on and there were no ill effects in the manner I was using it. Personally, I wouldn't use it on coins, if the coin is in bad enough shape to have to use muriatic acid, then it can't really be worth too much. OSHA, why bring OSHA into this?, this happened over 20 years ago, check the MSDS Broke, I'm so broke now that I can't even afford to pay attention
i wouldn't even try it if its that dangerous. if you put the nic a date or something on the nickel, coin dealers and collectors will just buy them like they are still dateless. i have a few dateless buffalo nickels, and would like to know the date. i wouldn't try anything that isn't meant for a coin. nic a date and vingar is the only way i would try it.
I have a few dateless buffs i would like to know. A couple even have S mintmarks. But i'd rather just leave them as is
Stupid question. I've definitely heard of the "acid treatment" for buffalos. Does this work on other coins and if so, why don't we hear about it? And secondly, how does it work. I don't get it. If the date is "gone", how does corroding or disolving the surface help? Wouldn't that also just disolve whatever is left of the date? I guess I don't get it
I found the answer to my question about the acid process. I got this for a restored buffalo auction on e-bay. Seller is up-front about selling restored buffalos: And I quote: Due to poor planning in the construction of the early date Buffalo Nickels, their dates frequently wore completely away because they were too high and not protected from wear by other features on the coin, such as a raised rim. The metal where the numerals WERE on the coin, however, is of a higher density (due to the stamping process) than the surrounding metal (known as the "field"). Brushing a small amount of ferric-chloride over the area where the date was will often "restore" the date. This happens because although this "acid" mixture begins to erode the metal, the area where the numerals were erodes much slower than the surrounding field, so the numerals "rise up", so to speak, out of the field. (The process is stopped by simply washing the acid off with water) The date that shows is the true and legitimate date the coin was minted with. Restored date coins are NOT fakes! The only real problem with restored date coins is that the area surrounding the date no longer looks totally natural. The area will appear to be a dull but very clean gray, almost as if the area by the date was cleaned with an abrasive cleanser. It is for this reason that restored date coins do not command the value of "natural" date coins. End of Quote.
Restoring dates on buffs Good discussion, Muratic acid is nasty stuff, but I've used it for years on concrete in a diluted form. I would NOT use it on a coin. As mentioned, there are some products out there and it's been going on for about 50 years or so. There are quite a few being sold on ebay and 'most' will advertise them as such - 'restored date', etc. From what I've seen, prices for a restored date will run about 30-40% of what they would if it was an unaltered coin. Where this might come in handy for a collector of buffs, would be to enable them to purchase cheaply some of the key dates. For example, you could pick up a 1913-S Type II for much less than you would otherwise have to pay. However, regardless of the condition of the rest of the coin, if it's a restored date, it's effectively a Filler. If you want to complete the series and fillers are OK, then by all means it should be considered. peace, rono
